One Wish
by Lily Bowen-Brown
Summary: Emma Potter, the girl-who-lived, meets a genie who appears only to those truly deserving of a miracle. Granted one wish, Emma wishes for her father. Outraged to learn of the horrors his daughter has endured and determined to make things right for her, it is James Potter against the world.
1. Chapter 1

One Wish

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter One

She'd literally just walked in the door when she tripped over it; an old fashioned oil lamp, just lying in the middle of her bedroom floor. Rolling her eyes, she kicked it out of the way and finished dragging all her luggage into the tiny room. Then she shut the door behind her and, using all her strength, moved first her rickety old wardrobe and then her bed so they blocked the door, preventing anyone from opening it from the outside. She really did not like the way her uncle and her cousin had been looking at her today and did not want to be surprised by them during the night. Of course showering and using the bathroom tomorrow would be an issue but she would figure that out later.

Her name was Emma Lily Potter but most of the wizarding world simply knew her as "the girl-who-lived." After the worst year of her life way at Hogwarts, Emma had just returned to Number Four Privet Drive, the home of her muggle relatives, and the place Emma would very reluctantly call home until she was of age and Professor Dumbledore could no longer dictate her life. School had been awful and Emma just knew that the summer was going to be horrendous as well. The Order of the Phoenix might have thought they were helping her by threatening the Dursleys but they hadn't. Uncle Vernon thought all witches and wizards were scum of the earth and there was no way he would let anyone so far 'below him' dictate what went on under his own roof. All the Order had done was make Uncle Vernon even angrier than usual and Emma just knew she was going to pay dearly for their actions. She could only hope that the Dursleys stuck to verbal abuse and punches. That she could handle, that she was used to. Anything more than that, though...well, she'd kill herself before things went that far, Emma decided, shuddering as she remembered how Dudley and Uncle Vernon had leered at her.

Before Emma left Hogwarts that morning, she'd snuck down to the kitchens and asked Dobby to make her some sandwiches she could take home with her. That meant she wouldn't have to bother Aunt Petunia for something to eat at least until tomorrow. Deciding to change into her pajamas before she ate, Emma went to open her trunk. Before she could do so, though she tripped over that stupid old fashioned oil lamp.

"Oh, bloody hell!" she cursed, her return to Privet Drive causing her to be stressed out and short tempered.

The lid of the lamp fell off and rolled under the bed. Fluorescent green smoke began pouring out of the lamp, like something out of one of the Disney movies Emma had sneakily watched as a child when Aunt Petunia rented them for Dudley. That was impossible, though...wasn't it? Emma warily backed away and drew her wand. She knew she shouldn't really risk another underage magic infraction but Emma had more important things to worry about than the ministry morons right now. Besides, now everyone knew Voldemort really was back it wasn't as though anyone would boot their precious girl-who-lived out of the magical world.

To Emma's amazement the smoke took the form of a young woman and then slowly began to transform into more human-like colors. The woman smiled kindly at Emma. "Calm yourself, sweet girl. I mean you no harm."

"Who are you? What are you?" Emma demanded, not lowering her wand. She felt steadier now, on more even footing with an actual foe to face, not just some insane green smoke.

"I have been known by many names over the years but most recently I have been called Mirabelle," the woman told her. "I am, what you would call, a genie."

"A genie," Emma said flatly. "As in living in a magic lamp, emerging only to give three wishes to anyone who finds the lamp? I've never read anything about genies being real."

"For a start genies only grant one wish," Mirabelle corrected. "And you won't have heard about genies because our lamps only appear to those truly deserving of a wish. Sadly a wave crippling greed and corruption has washed over the magical world and there hasn't been anyone truly deserving a wish in almost a century. Until now."

"I'm getting a wish?" Emma asked in amazement.

Mirabelle smiled at her. "Yes, sweet girl. After all you've suffered your heart has never wavered from the light. Magic itself as judged that you deserve a reward, in the form of a wish. There are only a few restrictions. First, is that the wish must be something that will benefit you or make you happy. Second, you cannot wish someone dead. Third, you cannot wish for anything that will reveal magic to the muggle world. Fourth, you cannot wish for anything that will alter history. Fifth, I'm afraid that you cannot wish for your mother to be alive."

Emma looked confused. "I can't wish for my mother to be alive? I thought it was impossible to return the dead to life."

"You can with genie magic," Mirabelle said. "But obviously nobody knows that because it's so long since anyone was granted a wish. Even so, though I'm afraid that you cannot wish for your mother because it was her death that led to Voldemort's first defeat. If Lily Potter lived the first war would never have ended and the world would be a very different place."

"I understand," Emma said, realizing that her mother's sacrifice hadn't just changed her life. Her mother's sacrifice had changed the entire world. She frowned, still not sure that she deserved the wish she was being offered, but mulling over the various possibilities. She eyed Mirabelle thoughtfully. "You say that I can't wish for my mother to be alive but I could wish for someone else who'd died to come back to life?"

Mirabelle nodded. "I thought that might be what you'd choose."

Emma thought about her godfather, Sirius Black, who had fallen through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries nearly a fortnight earlier. Her first thought was that she should wish him back to life. Something caused Emma to hesitate on that, though. She'd always sort of had the impression that Sirius wanted to die. He'd obviously held on for his goddaughter's sake but what else did Sirius have to live for? He was a wanted fugitive, vilified by most of the world and not even trusted by the handful of people who were aware of his innocence. Desperate for his freedom, Sirius couldn't even set foot outside the childhood home he hated without risking death from the ministry or the deatheaters. Did Emma have the right to wish him back to a life of that hell now he was finally at peace?

Somebody else's name crossed Emma's mind as a possibility of someone she could bring back to life. Like Sirius, this man had died before his time in the war against Voldemort. It was a potentially very selfish wish, though as Emma wasn't sure she had the right to ask him to live without his wife. Mirabelle had said that Emma's wish should be something that benefited her, though and hadn't Emma spent much of the last year contemplating the fact that the reason the media, the ministry, Snape and Dumbledore got away with bullying her so much was because she had nobody to stand up for her rights as a minor? She bit her lip thoughtfully. Should she do this? Could she do this?

"Emma?" Mirabelle asked gently. "Do you have any idea what you'd like to wish for?"

"Yes," Emma made her decision. She needed someone on her side and, judging by what she knew of the man, even if he wasn't too pleased with her to begin with, he loved her and would forgive her. "I know what I want."

Mirabelle smiled. "Anything you wish for you will receive."

"Thank you," Emma said shyly. "Shall I make my wish now?"

"Please do," Mirabelle nodded.

Emma took a deep breath. This was it. "I wish," she began. "I wish I had my dad back."

"Lily, it's him! Take Emma and run! I'll try to hold him off!" James Potter screamed to his wife.

James didn't understand why Lily fled upstairs with their daughter instead of apparating away or running for the back door. He didn't have time to argue the point, though because at that moment the front door exploded inwards and Voldemort was upon him. A short, but intense duel followed and then, for James Potter, everything went black.

He didn't know how much time had passed before be slowly began to drift back to consciousness. The first thing James became aware of was that he wasn't in pain. That wasn't a bad thing but it was certainly odd considering everything his body had been through in the duel against Voldemort. James began to realize that a great deal of time must have passed since the duel.

"Come on, Mr Potter, open your eyes," someone encouraged him gently.

James wasn't in pain but he did feel weak. Summoning his strength, he did as be was told. And then his world changed forever. The woman leaning over him introduced herself as a genie of all things. She explained to James that his wife was dead and that his baby girl, who he remembered as barely able to walk or talk, was nearly 16, practically a woman now.

Mirabelle filled him in on some of the horrors that had befallen, not only his little girl, but some of his old friends as well. In the case of the former James requested only a general overview as he preferred to get the details from his daughter. He was stunned, however, to learn how he had come back to life. As drained as he was, all of James' exhaustion evaporated when Mirabelle indicated the sleeping girl on the other side of the room. He shot to his feet and the makeshift cot he was lying on vanished as soon as he was off it. James gasped at the sight of the slumbering young woman, with his dark hair and nose, and Lily's soft features. She was living, breathing proof that everything he'd fought for hadn't been for nothing.

"Oh, my darling girl," James tenderly reached out and touched Emma's cheek.

"I thought it best that she be sleeping when you first returned," Mirabelle said. "She fears that you will be angry with her for bringing you back, forcing you to live without your wife. This way you will be able to reassure her as soon as she wakes up."

"Never!" James said emphatically. Emma was the best thing that had ever happened to him, the best thing that he'd ever done with his life. "I could never be angry with her."

"Tell her that," Mirabelle suggested. "She needs someone to protect her, to take care of her. More importantly she needs someone she can trust. She has the best friends you can possibly imagine but, as far as adults go, there's never been anyone she can depend on. Sirius Black always did his best for her but, as a wanted fugitive, it was never as much as she needed."

"And now he's gone as well," James mourned his best friend, his brother.

"All hope is not lost," Mirabelle said mysteriously. "The fate of Sirius Black could still go either way. You are the only one with the ability to save him, though."

James frowned in confusion but didn't pursue the topic, sensing that no answers would be forthcoming. He could have to figure it out himself and would certainly do so as soon as he got Emma taken care of. Other than his daughter, Sirius was the most important person in James' life. Other than his daughter, Sirius was certainly the only person who deserved James' help. Sirius had suffered on behalf of the Potter family and even after years of wrongful imprisonment in Azkaban, was the only one who'd lifted a finger to try and help Emma. He may not have been able to do much but Sirius had certainly done more than James' other so-called best friend, Remus Lupin, who, by all accounts had barely been a part of Emma's life.

"I can't thank you enough for this," he told the genie.

"You don't need to thank me, James Potter," Mirabelle said. "It's what your daughter deserves. Prove that it's what you deserve by giving Emma the best possible future."

"Count on it," James said strongly. He was yet to learn of everything his little girl had been through but he was already mentally compiling a list of people whose heads were going to roll for what they had, or rather hadn't, done to Emma.

"Pleased to hear it," Mirabelle smirked. "I believe it is time for me to go now. Good luck, James Potter. The future is in your hands." 


	2. Chapter 2

One Wish

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who read, reviewed and / or started following this story. I was so pleased and surprised by your response. A couple of you asked me questions about whether the story would bash Lily and Remus. To answer: Lily, no way, but Remus yes. In this story the Potters will not have had the blissfully happy marriage that everyone assumes and there will be lots of James POV but none of Lily's so, at times, it may seem like she's being bashed. That's not true, though. James still deeply loves and respects his wife for the sacrifice she made to save their daughter and will remember her fondly even if he isn't overwhelmed with grief when he learns of her death. As for Remus, I really, really don't like him. First, he has absolutely nothing to do with Harry for the 12 years after James and Lily die. Then, at Hogwarts, he doesn't tell Harry who he is until Sirius turns up. After that he has no more contact with Harry, except very briefly through the Order, until he tries to justify abandoning his own wife and son by claiming he needs to look after James' son. Where was his concern for Harry before then? If Remus-bashing stories offend you I doubt my story is for you because Emma will never consider him more than an acquaintance of her father's and if Remus does manage to rebuild his friendship with James he will have to work for his forgiveness. There will be no quick fixes to the various relationships. Rant over now, please enjoy the second chapter.

Chapter Two

While he waited for his daughter to wake up, James paced up and down the length of the room. Not that there was much space he could use to pace. James scowled, looking around the tiny, dilapidated bedroom. He couldn't believe the conditions in which his little girl had been forced to live. The house elves at Potter Manor had nicer rooms than this! Not only was James going to eviscerate the Dursley family, he was going to snap Dumbledore's neck for putting Emma in this situation. She wasn't supposed to have ever even met the Dursleys, let alone be raised by them if the worst happened to both her parents. They'd made that very clear in their wills, which Dumbledore had witnessed, so, at the very least, the old man was guilty of will tampering, if not reckless child endangerment as well.

James frowned as his thoughts drifted to his late wife. Even if she had hated him for most of that time Lily had been a major part of his life since he was 11 years old and James was going to find it strange living without her. His thoughts about her death were...confused, though. James was sad that Lily was dead but he was pretty sure that he wasn't as sad as he should be. He certainly wasn't as inconsolable as his father, Charlus, had been when his mother, Dorea, had died just before James' seventh year at Hogwarts. Then again his marriage to Lily could hardly be compared to his Charlus and Dorea's marriage. In addition to the obvious problem of Voldemort being after their baby, all had not been well in the House of Potter on that fateful Halloween night. James didn't know whether they'd married too young and just didn't have the maturity to deal with their problems or whether they'd let pressure of being young parents to a baby marked for death completely overwhelm them but he and Lily had been at each other's throats a lot of the time. Minor annoyances became major conflicts and, in hiding at Godrics Hollow, there was nowhere they could go to cool off either. By the time Halloween 1981 rolled around James and Lily were united in the fact they wanted the best for their daughter but that was about it.

James smiled as he remembered first meeting Lily 25 years earlier. He'd been an arrogant SOB as a child, he could admit that now. That's what came from being the only child of a rich, pureblood couple who'd given up hope of ever being parents. Lily was the first person he ever met who told him 'no' and who didn't hang off his every word. Even if she'd hated James right up until seventh year, from the beginning James had never given another girl a second glance. She'd excited him, challenged him and it was during second year James had decided she'd be his wife one day. True to his word, he'd won Lily over eventually and, in the beginning, they'd been blissfully happy. So how could it have all gone so wrong?

Regardless of what had happened between them, James realized, Lily had still lain down her life so their daughter could live. James could survive without Lily but without Emma he would have nothing. His daughter was the best thing James had ever done with his life and how could he not love and respect Lily for the sacrifice she'd made to save the girl? Lily hadn't been perfect, James reflected, but, by the same token neither was he. If not for the war their marriage probably would have been a happy one but unfortunately that hadn't been in the cards for them. That was all in the past now anyway because Lily was still dead but James was alive again. He would always love Lily, at least on some level, but rather than mourning her, James had to focus on their daughter now. And come to think of it, perhaps that would be the best way to honor Lily as well, ensuring that Emma got to live the longest, happiest life possible.

"Rest in peace, Lil," he whispered. James wasn't an overly spiritual person but he liked to think that his wife could hear him. "I'll look after her. I promise."

He was jolted out of his musings about Lily as Emma at last stirred. James watched her slightly warily, not knowing how she was going to react to his presence as he wasn't sure how much Mirabelle had told her about what was going to happen. Emma sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she remembered the dream she'd had about meeting a genie called Mirabelle who'd said she was going to bring Emma's father back to life. Emma was sure it had been a dream because having her dad back would have been wonderful and wonderful things did not happen in the life of Emma Lily Potter. Then, though she noticed that there was someone else in her room; a dark haired, hazel eyed man she recognized from the photo album Hagrid had given her in first year. He was older now but it was definitely the same man. Her jaw dropped.

"Emmybear?" James asked gently, using the nickname he'd given his daughter when she was a baby.

"D-Dad?" asked Emma, her emerald eyes both apprehensive and hopeful.

The sight of her took James' breath away. Aside from the dark hair and nose she'd inherited from him, it was like looking at Lily 20 years earlier. He felt tears well up in his own eyes as he looked at Emma's - Lily's - emerald orbs. "It's me, darling," he reassured her.

"D-Daddy, I'm sorry," Emma began.

"Darling, stop!" James cut her off, crouching down by her bed and taking her hands in his. "I'm not angry with you. There's nothing in the world that would make me be angry with you."

"But mum..." Emma tried to explain.

"Is gone," James said frankly. "But we're still here. And I know for a fact that, given the choice, she'd want me to taking care of you. She'd want us to live our lives and be happy."

Surprising even herself, Emma threw herself into her father's waiting arms and burst into tears. It was all so overwhelming. "Daddy!"

James dropped a kiss on the top of her head as he comforted his daughter. "It's going to be okay, darling. And I will protect you. I promise."

"Thank you," Emma whispered into his shoulder.

"Why don't we start by getting the hell out of here?" James suggested, looking around the tiny room again with ill-disguised disdain. "You should get packed."

"I never had the chance to get changed or even unpack when I arrived so I'm good to go," Emma said, slipping her shoes back on.

James looked at Emma's sealed trunk in surprise. "That's all you're bringing with you? You won't be coming back here if I can help it, you know."

Emma looked down in shame. She wasn't a materialistic girl but she was suddenly embarrassed that all she had in the world fitted into her school trunk. She was going to have to tell him something but Emma had no idea how to even begin explaining to her father. "Well, that and Hedwig," she hedged for now, still not looking her father in the eye.

James felt a rush of fury as he realized why Emma had so little. Fighting to remain calm, for her sake, he gently raised Emma's head so he could look her in the eye. "I don't know all the details but I can pretty much guess what those people did to you. Please believe me when I say things are going to be very, very different from now on."

"I'm fine," Emma told him.

James didn't buy it for a second but he didn't feel as though he could demand answers from Emma until they knew each other better. "Darling, one day those people are going to get what's coming to them for what they did to you."

Emma was shocked by the sheer venom in her father's voice when he referred to the Dursleys. She'd always sort of had an image in her head of her father as a happy-go-lucky fellow who ambled his way through life. Now she thought about it, though Emma realized that there had to be much more to James than the teenage prankster she'd heard so much about because if there wasn't, one, her studious mum would never have married him and, two, he would never have been able to defy Voldemort so many times. Now when he talked about the Dursleys James sort of reminded her of a predator getting ready to strike. Emma was cognizant enough to realize, however, that James wasn't angry with her. She actually felt safe with her dad and that surprised her because, except for perhaps with Sirius, Emma had never felt like that around an adult before.

"Can I watch?" she asked hopefully, admitting if only to herself that the thought of the Dursleys getting their comeuppance at the hands of her father was extremely appealing.

"We'll see," James smiled. "Now, can I borrow your wand for a minute? Unfortunately I don't know where my own is. I'll need to track it down or buy a new one."

"Sure," Emma said, handing over her wand. "But won't I get expelled even if you do the magic? A house elf did some magic here once and I was the one that got in trouble."

James shook his head, already waving the wand. It wasn't anywhere near as good a match as his own wand but Emma's magical signature was near enough to his own that he could force her wand to work for him. "It'll be fine," he predicted. "Sooner or later I'll have to go into the Ministry to get myself legally declared alive. I'll clear up any issues then. Besides, you can't be expelled from Hogwarts, darling. It's the law. You'd have to commit some pretty heinous crimes before they could even consider kicking you out. Underage magic doesn't even come close."

"How do you figure that?" Emma asked in confusion. "I was attacked by dementors last summer and the ministry tried to get me expelled because I used the patronus charm to defend myself. There was a trial in front of the wizengamot and everything."

"Dementors," James echoed in horror. "Dementors. Wonderful. Just wonderful. You know, darling, sometime soon we're going to sit down and you're going to tell me these stories. I don't understand why they'd drag you in front of the wizengamot, though. Everyone in the ministry knows that the Potters are descendants of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. It's in the Hogwarts charter that descendants of the founders are entitled to a free Hogwarts education and can't be kicked out of the school, except under the most extreme situations."

"And some of the things we consider horrific crimes now would have barely raised an eyebrow back when the charter was written," Emma observed, choosing to ignore her dad's comment about telling him stories. He was her father and thus had a right to know but, on the other hand, some of what happened was really personal and, while he was her father, James was also, right now, a stranger to her. Emma didn't know how to begin explaining some of the stuff she'd been through, or even if she could explain at all. "There probably wasn't even underage magic laws back then."

"Which means that there's something seriously suspect going on," James observed. "I think before we even consider going to the Ministry we'll head to Gringotts. Goblins aren't the most cheerful individuals but at least they're always honest."

"And if you need a new wand we'll need to pick up some gold," Emma pointed out. "Because I don't have that much cash on me."

"That's true," James nodded, finally lowering Emma's wand. "There. Done."

"What did you do?" Emma asked, not seeing anything different.

"I cast a few wards," James explained. "If Albus really did have blood wards up here they'll fall as soon as we leave because you're never coming back to this hellhole if I can help it. That means the Dursleys will be unprotected and, while a part of me is tempted to leave them to Voldemort's mercies, I can't do it. Instead my wards ought to keep most witches and wizards out until I decide what to do with the Dursleys. They made nearly 15 years of your life hard so me making the next 15 years of their lives hell sounds fair, don't you think?"

"Sounds good to me," Emma giggled.

"Shall we go?" James asked, shrinking Emma's trunk so they could easily carry it. He was relieved to see a smile on his daughter's face.

Emma gestured to her owl. "Shall I let Hedwig out to fly or are we bringing her with us?"

"Better let her out," James advised. "We're apparating and animals don't react well to that."

Emma took the snowy owl out of her cage, which James immediately shrunk. "Find me later, okay?" Emma whispered to Hedwig, carrying her to the window.

Hedwig hooted and gently nipped Emma's fingers, indicating that she understood. Father and daughter stood at the window, watching as the owl took flight, swooping out into the dark night. "She'll meet us where we're going," James reassured Emma. "Post owls always know."

"Where are we going?" Emma asked, deciding she wanted to know, although, as far as she was concerned, anywhere was better than here.

James couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face which honestly came as a surprise to him because he hadn't thought he would ever feel that way about the place again. Now, however, it seemed only natural to take his daughter there. "Home." 


End file.
